Reviews

Sometimes you stumble across the nicest things in life, if my sister hadn't chanced upon an advert for the first The Ubiquitous Chip Whisky Club I wouldn't have known it was happening despite living no more than a few hundred yards from them. That would have been a great shame as their new bi-monthly whisky tasting shows much promise and could well turn into a new West End institution, "The Chip" of course is known throughout the city as one of the places to dine and I've had many enjoyable nights in the restaurant and bars but before this I'd never attended an "event".

So for their first Whisky Club they invited A D Rattray to their "Wee Bar" to showcase four of their drams and "nibbles" which transpired to basically be canapés, although there was nothing basic about them as each had been chosen to match the whisky they were paired with. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, which enabled me to taste four drams that had never previously passed my lips. The standouts for me were the Stonachie 18 Year Old and to my surprise the Cask Islay, peaty Islay style whiskies have never really been my dram of choice but this is the second within 6 months to have challenged my tastes (the other being the Big Peat 2013 Christmas edition) and perhaps I'll be explore this area more in the months ahead. The food pairing were excellent and is something that allows "The Chip" to stand out from other tastings in Glasgow and I hope they continue this approach. The only criticism of the evening would by that they were too successful, the Wee Bar was a bit too crowded however they acknowledged that they'd been caught out by the number of last minute bookings and they'll address this for the future. Overall a really good night.